Friday, June 29, 2012

Amsterdam city center

After 2 nights in de Pijp, we have moved to a more central location. It is above a cafe, with huge windows overlooking a canal. It is a little loud, but living by the Loyola students has prepared all of us for drunken tomfoolery. Once again we rented bikes and have been zooming everywhere, including the Miffy store. Miffy is a bunny, and she is Hello Kitty's predecessor and moral superior. She's also sued the pants off Hello Kitty for copyright infringement.

Also, thanks to Jani Hegarty, we discovered Nemo, the children's science museum. The building is shaped like a ship and designed by the architect of Centre Pompidou. Its roof has a great view of the city, with water steps children love. Zoe and I played chess on a huge chess set. Unfortunately, we also observed the explosion of a house boat from that height and watched as the whole city mobilized a response. We were told that no one was killed.